Liliana De Lima is a native of Colombia, South America. She received a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1984, and masters’ degrees in Clinical Psychology in 1991 and in Health Care Administration in 2000. In 1996 she did Fellowship in Policy Studies with the Pain and Policy Studies Group/WHO Collaborating Center, at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison. She is currently a PhD candidate in Health Care Policy and Administration.
In 1989 Liliana founded in Colombia La Viga, a 52 bed inpatient hospice facility, where she worked as Program Director for six years before moving to the USA. During 1994-96 she served as an advisor to the National Cancer Institute in Colombia in the design and development of a palliative care in-patient unit.
In 1998 she was appointed as the liaison in supportive care for Latin America and the Caribbean by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and is an advisor to the Regional Cancer Control Program at PAHO. She has also served as consultant in several World Health Organization (WHO) committees, including the Expert Committee on the Selection and Use of Essential Medicines in 2007. Since 2000, she has been a member of the WHO Expert Committee on Drug Dependence, the committee responsible for recommending the level of international scheduling for controlled medications to the United Nations.
Liliana serves as an adviser to several programs and initiatives in the development of programs, strategies and policies to improve access to and availability of palliative care services and medications. In 2007, she coordinated the development of an essential list of medications for palliative care known as the IAHPC List Essential Medicines for Palliative Care.
From 1998 to 2000, she worked as Program Director in the Palliative Care Department at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.
Since August 2000 Liliana is the current president of the Latin American Palliative Care Association and has been the Executive Director of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC) since 1999.
